re: #226 ckkatz

From what I remember…

The NRA was originally founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship after the miserable marksmanship of the Civil War:

“Union Army records for the Civil War indicate that its troops fired about 1,000 rifle shots for each Confederate hit, causing General Burnside to lament his recruits: “Out of ten soldiers who are perfect in drill and the manual of arms, only one knows the purpose of the sights on his gun or can hit the broad side of a barn.”“

It mostly concentrated on the technical aspects of shooting until 1977 when a bunch of rwnj’s took control of it and politicized it.

The funny thing is that in general, American field armies have presented relatively good marksmanship - in target practice. The problem comes when asked to shoot at a living, breathing human being; who knew that, when it comes down to it, teenage farm boys find it difficult to kill other teenage farm boys? Most of modern military training is breaking down the psychological barriers that make it hard to aim and fire at a real person.